German Patent Application DE 10 2009 055 988 B3 discloses a 3D measurement device, designed as a laser scanner, for a known method. A measuring head which is rotatable relative to a base about a first axis emits an emitted light beam by means of a light emitter and a mirror which is rotatable relative to the measuring head about a second axis, and receives, by means of the mirror and a light receiver, a reception light beam reflected or otherwise scattered by an object in the environment of the laser scanner. A control and evaluation device determines at least the distance from the object for each of a plurality of measuring points. The angular position sensors assigned to the two axes supply the related angles. With this method, the 3D coordinates of the measuring points can be determined, based on an initial initialization. The rotor that supports the mirror is balanced by a variety of recesses. A color camera integrated into the measuring head supplies 2D color images. In EP 2 005 112 B1, a line camera is mounted at the top of the measuring head.
German Patent Application DE 10 2009 015 922 A1 discloses a known method in which a scene is registered using multiple scans. To accomplish this, after generating one scan, the laser scanner is moved to a new location to generate another scan. The measuring points of the generated scans are registered in a common system of coordinates, and the measuring points together form a three-dimensional point cloud.